Stay Online Review: Ukraine's First Post-Invasion Movie Is A Screenlife Powerhouse [Fantasia Fest 2023]
The excruciatingly familiar application of screenlife in Eva Strelnikova's "Stay Online" summons organic devastation as a livestream-esque replication of wartime atrocities. The first Ukrainian feature film shot since the beginning of Russia's ongoing invasion is an unmissable international thriller. At times, a moving protest against ruling tyrants. At others, a plea for mainstream news cycles not to forget Ukraine in favor of "catchier" headlines. Strelnikova and co-writer Anton Skrypets deliver an emotional haymaker demonizing the senseless bloodshed in their home country that forces you to reckon with Ukraine's ruthless reality wherever you are, shattering the protection we feel from our cozy domestic bubbles.
Katya (Liza Zaitseva) is a volunteer from Kyiv attempting to save lives amidst Russia's Ukrainian attacks. We watch Katya surf applications installed on a donated laptop — video calls, instant messengers, GPS locators — hoping to make a difference. The original user seems to be a husband with a lovely wife and child (Katya snoops around his private files). Shortly after starting her online session, she receives a video chat from the owner's Spider-Man-obsessed son Sava (Hordii Dziubynskyi), asking "SuperKatya" to find his parents. Missiles rain on cities outside, and Katya's own family are in peril, but she accepts Sava's request — with only social media profiles and phone numbers as a starting point.
Finding hope in hopelessness
"Stay Online" investigates with the resourcefulness of Aneesh Chaganty's "Searching" and navigates national crises with the urgency of Timur Bekmambetov's "Profile." You're on the frontlines of grassroots activism as Katya struggles to channel her rage toward Russian militants into healthy outlets versus causing reciprocal heartache wherever possible. Sava offers Katya a chance to do something positive versus the rational depression she's sunken into — finding slivers of hope in a time of avalanching hopelessness. Strelnikova isn't interested in some Hollywoodized "Saving Sava's Parents" ripoff, only the tolls paid by innocents when totalitarian armies ravage peaceful countries.
Liza Zaitseva triumphantly leads "Stay Online" behind a glowing screen, portraying Katya as a rebel whose composure is held together by Scotch tape and dental floss. Zaitseva feels the megaton weight of every dangerous decision and wind-knocking consequence, choking back tears or anxiously guiding at-risk parties to safety from afar. Strelnikova doesn't shield viewers from the murders tallied by Russian death squads pumping rounds into cars full of civilians left ablaze like dystopian movie props. Oleksandr Rudynskyi gives us a direct line to the frontlines as Katya's Ukrainian soldier brother Vitya, and Skrypets co-stars as stealthy American volunteer Ryan, allowing the camera to explore Ukraine's destruction up-close as though first-person warzone perspectives like "Hardcore Henry." However, there's never a shift from Katya's mission control position and how her desperation propels snowballing tension.
A testament to heroism
Based on what "Stay Online" depicts, expect an immensely powerful steamroller of an experience that'll leave you speechless. Sava's adoration of superheroes bleakly contrasts against the astronomical losses left behind by real-world heroes who aren't invincible nor gloriously rewarded for their efforts. Strelnikova affords Katya no mercy, much like how Russian invaders treat Ukrainian "Nazis," these footsoldiers hypnotized by Putin's pathetic hatred who slay men, women, and children fleeing for borders. "Stay Online" epitomizes feel-bad storytelling of the utmost importance, in a film that fearlessly presents Russia's invasion as appropriate villainy under Putin's rule. It's compelling, sickening, impactful, and brutally crucial as an example of how global filmmaking shrinks borders and ignites — or reignites — worthwhile conversations.
"Stay Online" is a screenlife tour de force that recontextualizes the contemporary horrors of war across digital minefields. Strelnikova's feature debut capitalizes on the importance of online dependencies in under-siege nations like Ukraine, where information travels via internet connections, and constant activity means you're still alive. Zaitseva delivers a star-making role seated behind Katya's keyboard, relying solely on video interactions with choppy internet connections and the grief-rich suffering caused by needless violence. Strelnikova even reconstructs the audible experience of laptop usage for added authenticity — sound design is like pleasing ASMR down to the chunkiest "click" — even though scant text glitches and continuity flubs can be seen on screen. Nonetheless, "Stay Online" is very good at what it does, even if you'll never want to experience soulless sorrow and psychological evisceration on that level again.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10